Food Heaven and Hell: My Royal Holiday Weekend, Part Two

London's South Bank is, in my opinion, the most interesting place in London. There are a constant stream of events and exhibitions on, in addition to the ever present venues which offer, film, theatre and other arts. The BFI of course, is my favourite place to noodle away an hour or two with a beer and sandwich.

This weekend has seen the South Bank host the Real Street Food Festival. I practically ran down there this morning, determined to get my edging-towards-pudgy hands on some churros and some ChocStar ice cream!

Simply put, there were some absolutely mega stalls in force. Lucky for me, I'd come armed with two friends, so I could 'share' their purchases and get a bit of everything on offer. I forgot to take photos of everything in the excitement. Also, it was very, very windy, hence everyone clutching their food at the share tables, terrified that a rogue gust would send burritos flying into laps, as it did on a couple of occasions. So it seemed unwise to faff around with positioning and set-up for photos and best to just get stuck in.

First up, sangria from St-Germain. Before lunch; I know. I'm not really sure what was in it, as Andy was dispatched to buy it and was too embarrassed to ask ("It's your blog; YOU go and ask!"), but it was peachy and melony and like Pimms, but with St-Germain instead. Very nice and light. Plus, a very cute Citroën HY dispatching the wares.

It was then time to check out the healthy option: Healthy Yummies' scallops. We checked it out. Then we decided that we had to account for the three different pork stalls which were trading and save valuable stomach room. The scallops were flying out of the stall, so I'm sure our presence wasn't missed.

Andy plumped for a Jalfrezi Bhangra Burger (he forgot what meat was in it; we guessed lamb/beef). Bhangra Burger definitely won the prize for most eye-catching stall. The burger was lovely, although slightly confusing, being as it was presented in a wrap.

Onto the pork! Anna Mae's Smoke House kicked arse. Pulled pork, BBQ sauce with 'slaw, hot sauce and A&W root beer. The only tiny let down was the pants white bap that came with it. But in the grand scheme of things this didn't matter, given that all the other ingredients were amazing.

John went for the Rainha Santa Hog Roast. The gentleman behind the stall was kind enough to thrown in some extra crackling. There were lots of crispy pork bits in the sandwich too, along with a slightly spicy apple sauce.

We were going to go for the pork hat trick and try a pulled pork burrito from Luardo's, but the meat sweats were kicking in, so we proceeded to dessert.

ChocStar's queue was insane, so I went for the churros. Absolutely gorgeous, as expected, with the added bonus of fit boys working the stand.

I loved the look of Lulabelle. It's an on the road tea party, sold out of a converted camper van. Some of the cupcakes looked like they were struggling to not go melty in the high sun of the day, but the stall and van looked resplendent.

I would have loved to have stop a bit longer (there are trestle tables set out for people to sit down and eat properly), but there is only so much food one little piggy can eat.

That being said, I drove home via Chiswick and noticed an empty parking space near The Outsider Tart. Following my disappointing encounter with the nearby Upsy Daisy, I'd been reminded by Kelly at An American Cupcake In London that TOT does the best brownies in London.

Witness the fitness:

Nine square inches of brownie goodness.

As I was in there, I felt obliged to pick up these, for future baking endeavours.

I'm told that Fluff is crucial to make an authentic whoopie pie. I am going to have a final, final stab at making these next week, given that the three batches I made this week, which technically, turned out as they should, were disgusting. But I am determined to find out if this is because whoopie pies are not to my taste, or whether I'm using a duff recipe.

All in, a pretty good bank holiday so far. Tomorrow is to be spent watching 'Chaplin' and glugging Gaviscon by the bottle.

The Real Street Food Festival is on until circa 6 p.m. on Monday 2nd May, at the Southbank Centre.

@Lora This post has made me hungry again; I dreamt that I was eating churros last night!

@Kelly OT is quite local to me and it's nice to have somewhere which sells US baking stuff so I don't have to trawl to King's Road. They were selling a rainbow cheesecake at the weekend, which looked killer.